3 cities, 3 sports vie for 2020 Olympics

Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid still in running to host summer games; wrestling, squash, baseball hope to get in

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), listens to a reporters' question during a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. During the Sept. 4-10 meetings, IOC members will elect the host city for the Summer Olympics Games of 2020, with candidates being Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo, as well as choose a new IOC president and add a sport to the 2020 program. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
— AP

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), listens to a reporters' question during a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. During the Sept. 4-10 meetings, IOC members will elect the host city for the Summer Olympics Games of 2020, with candidates being Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo, as well as choose a new IOC president and add a sport to the 2020 program. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
/ AP

The vote comes in an era when major sporting events are increasingly headed to non-traditional locales – a World Cup in South Africa, a Summer Olympics in Brazil, a European Championships of soccer co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine – with mixed results. The predictable construction delays and organizational headaches may curb the IOC’s ambition and blow it to a safe harbor, which is exactly what Tokyo’s bid is pushing.

Robert Livingstone of GamesBids.com produces a numerical ratings index for bids, and his latest figures still have Tokyo as the favorite with 62.14 points. But the margin over Istanbul (61.45) and Madrid (58.76) is narrowing.

Livingstone calls it “one of the most competitive Olympic bid races in years with no clear winner or outsider.”

So, too, is the vote for Rogge’s replacement after a 12-year tenure. There are six candidates, including the favored Bach of Germany, Ng from Singapore, IOC veteran Denis Oswald of Switzerland and former Soviet pole vaulter Sergei Bubka.

That decision, more than the Europe-Asia battle for 2020 host, could have the biggest impact on a proposed U.S. bid for the 2024 Summer Games. The IOC has taken a noticeably anti-American slant over the last decade, with few Americans on IOC committees and the stinging loss of Chicago to Rio for 2016.

Relations seems to be thawing, and Bach is viewed as an ally. After the U.S. Olympic Committee and IOC settled on a new revenue-sharing agreement last year, Bach, an IOC vice president, was seen approaching USOC chairman Larry Probst and proclaiming, “Hello, partner.”

Then again, the most recent IOC vote was in July, for host of the 2018 World Youth Games. Medellin, Colombia, and Glasgow, Scotland, were considered the favorites. Buenos Aires was relegated to long shot after the IOC evaluation report was released and its bid was roundly criticized.